Online Worship for March 6, 2022

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live streaming worship service for March 6, 2022. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down, or you may download and print the service in PDF format below.

Today’s service includes celebration of Holy Communion. Please prepare some bread and juice – or another staple food and beverage meaningful to you – and have it ready for that section of the service.

Online Worship, March 6, 2022
First Sunday in Lent

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Welcome                                                                                                    Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Prelude: Berceuse–Ilyinsky                                                                Kayleen Yuda

Call to Worship: based on Romans 10:8-13                                   Gloria Kobayashi

Leader: The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.
All: We declare with our lips and we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead.

Leader: The Scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”
All: Therefore we will not treat our neighbors with shame.

Leader: There is one God, Sovereign of all and generous to those who call.
All: With the saints of old we proclaim, “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

Invocation: based on Deuteronomy 26:1-11                                   Gloria Kobayashi

What times are these, O God? The people of Israel had been enslaved, they had been refugees, then they returned to their ancestors’ lands and found them good. What times are these, O God? Are we in the midst of suffering, are we emerging from suffering, have we come to a place of safety? Uncertain, we bring the first fruits of our hearts to you, for you have been with us in trial and rejoicing, and you will be with us forever. Amen.

Hymn #72: Sekai no Tomo (Here, O God, Your Servants Gather)   Eric Anderson
                                                                                                                        Doug Albertson
                                                                                                                      Movement led by Genie Phillips

Scripture: Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16                                                            Gloria Kobayashi
You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
    who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
    my God, in whom I trust.”
Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
    the Most High your dwelling place,
no evil shall befall you,
    no scourge come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
    so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder,
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

 Those who love me, I will deliver;
    I will protect those who know my name.
When they call to me, I will answer them;
    I will be with them in trouble,
    I will rescue them and honor them.
With long life I will satisfy them,
    and show them my salvation.

Luke 4:1-13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then the devilled him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devilsaid to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

 Then the deviltook him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    to protect you,’

 and

‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Story/Sermon: On Their Hands They Will Bear You Up          Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Pastoral Prayer                                                                                       Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen

Instrumental Anthem: Just as I Am–Woodworth                     Kanako Okita

Call to Offering                                                                                        Gloria Kobayashi

Though it seems Jesus disregarded material things, rejecting the devil’s offers of invulnerability, power, and even bread, Jesus himself would later share bread and power and eternal life with others. Let us follow Jesus in sharing with one another, demanding no price that imperils faith. Please send your offering through the mail in an envelope to 440 West Lanikaula Street, Hilo, Hawai’i, 96720, or give online at holycrosshilo.com/donate. Let us pray together:

Offertory Prayer:
To you we give and to your purposes we dedicate these gifts, O God. May we be generous enough to share and wise enough to love as you do: freely and without measure. Amen.

Vocal Anthem #336: Here, O My Lord, I See You Face to Face         
                                                                                                                        Eric Anderson
                                                                                                                        Doug Albertson
                                                                                                                      Movement led by Genie Phillips

Holy Communion

Invitation to Communion

Pastor: Scripture says, “You shall not live by bread … alone.”
So, what do you spread on your bread?

All: This bread is spread with the butter of compassion,
and the jam of welcome.

Pastor: Jesus said, “You shall not live by bread alone.”
So how do you serve your bread?

All: We serve this bread on the plates of plenty
offered to the food-insecure every day of the week.

Pastor: Every Lent we hear, “You shall not live by bread, alone.”
So, who sits at your table?

All: All God’s children, ones I know, ones I don’t know yet.
Even when I feel alone, I am never alone.

Pastor: Together in spirit we eat this bread and drink this cup.    

All: Bread alone is like eating a stone.

Words of Remembering

Pastor
We remember the stories of wanderers
bringing first fruit in a basket
to give thanks for finding a home,
and we give thanks for our kitchen tables
and our precious sanctuary,
both homes and places we share.

And we remember that Jesus Christ
sitting among those
whose feet he had washed
at the Passover table
of precious and ancient tradition,
anticipated betrayal and desertion,
pain and even death,

but made a new thanksgiving,
a new hope, a new way for peace,
a new Covenant,
of blessed bread and poured wine
on a global table,
inviting us always to share
from our brokenness and grace.

Prayer of Consecration (Psalm 19)

Pastor: O God, the sky speaks your glory and deep space your creation. Daybreak announces hope and starlight sings rest in a language that needs no translation but closing our eyes in prayer. Nothing is hidden from you, and you make no barriers for human understanding. We are revived, enlivened, warned, and comforted. Beyond even the bright and sweet parables of our lives, you free us from definitions of relationship based in dominion and being dominated and you lead us to words of reconciliation and grace. So reconciled, we pray together –

All: Let the Bread of our mouths and the Cup upon which our hearts meditate, be acceptable to you, O God, at this ordinary table and in our lives of redeeming. Amen

Sharing of the Elements

One: Let us receive the gift of God, the Bread.
All: We are never alone; we live in this Bread.

One: Let us receive the gift of God, the Cup of Covenant.
All: We find Christ in the Cup because we share it.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

God of feast and fast, who relishes falafel, jambalaya, pad Thai, and even post-Mardi Gras pancakes, help us eat always with compassion for the earth, delight in the flavors of every people, and generosity in sharing, in spite of temptations to hoard or control. Praise to you – locavore, foodie, walker in all our wilderness, Eucharist! Amen.

Announcements                                                                                     Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction                                                                                               Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: The Soldier of the Lord–Hughes                                   Kayleen Yuda

Permissions:
Berceuse
by Alexander Ilyinsky
Public Domain

Sekai no Tomo (Here, O God, Your Servants Gather)
Lyrics by Tokuo Yamaguchi, 1958
Japanese transcription by I-to Loh, 1958
Trans. Everett M. Stowe, 1958
© 1958, 1989, United Methodist Publishing House/Abingdon Press
Tune TOKYO arr. by Isao Koizumi, 1958
© 2016 Augsburg Fortress
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Just as I Am
Tune WOODWORTH by William B. Bradbury, 1849
Public Domain

Here, O My Lord, I See You Face to Face
Lyrics by Horatius Bonar, 1855
Tune MORECAMBE by Frederick C. Atkinson, 1870
Public Domain

The Soldier of the Lord—Hughes
Streamed by permission CCS License #: 13303

                                                                  Dates to Remember
Today, March 6 – Communion Sunday
Today, March 6 – Trustees meeting after worship
Today, March 6 – Deacons meeting after worship, at 2:00 p.m.

Pastor                                                                                                          Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator                                                                                                 Woody Kita
Lay Reader                                                                                                Gloria Kobayashi
Chapel Decorations                                                                              Irene Okada
Choir Accompanist                                                                                Kanako Okita
Choir Director                                                                                         Doug Albertson
Organist                                                                                                     Kayleen Yuda
Hand Bell Director                                                                                Anna Kennedy
Childcare Coordinator                                                                        Evonne Shioshita
Movement Leader                                                                                 Genie Phillips
Projected Imagery                                                                                Sue Smith
Web Master                                                                                              Ruth Niino-DuPonte  
Videographers                                                                                        Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith

This week at the Church of the Holy Cross

• Pickleball: Wednesdays, 2:00 p.m., Saturdays 1:30 p.m., Sundays 1:30 p.m. Building of Faith—limited to 10 attendees
• Bible Study with Pastor Eric: Tuesdays, 3:00 p.m. via Zoom.
• Online Song – Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. online.
• Community Concert – 2^nd and 4th Fridays, 6:00 p.m. online.